REVIEW: Bayside – “Killing Time”

Bayside / Killing Time / Wind-up Records

Life has the tendency to throw the odd curveball and Queens rock outfit Bayside know that too well. Take their latest effort, Killing Time; after years of material, the fifth LP is being coined by some as their best work to date. The studio release is still crammed full of sharp guitar work layered with Raneri’s distinctive voice but after almost a decade, there’s a mature feel to it all. This doesn’t stop the group from remaining true to the calculated misery that has tainted their songwriting since their inception in 2000.

“Forever more I am a faded sweatshirt you forgot was hanging on your closet door,” sulks Raneri on the album’s title track, providing an example of how every song is wrapped with promise, some delivering a bit more than others. “On Love, On Life” trades the edge for the simple company of piano and acoustic strings producing brutally honest lines hinting at an optimistic future. On the surface, the material may appear as a lucid melange of ten Bayside tracks but upon closer inspection, it’s a clear indication of the group’s resilience and a true assurance their late-blooming maturation was right on time.